Microcrystalline silicon (pc-Si:H) solar cells with i-layers deposited by hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) exhibit higher open circuit voltage and fill factor than the cells with i-layers deposited by plasma enhanced (PE)-CVD. Inserting an intrinsic [mu c-Si:H p/i buffer layer prepared by HWCVD into PECVD cells nearly eliminates these differences. The influence of buffer layer properties on the performance of Itc-Si:H solar cells was investigated. Using such buffer layers allows to apply high deposition rate processes for the mu c-Si:H i-layer material yielding a high efficiency of 10.3% for a single junction mu c-Si:H solar cell. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.